BEN LIGHT

Director of operations, The Gathering Place

E ileen Saffran takes into account any number of factors when considering a potential candidate to work at The Gathering Place, the Beachwood-based cancer support organization she formed in 2000.

But above all, given the group's work, she gauges how sensitive and passionate her staff will be when called upon.

“When we answer the phone, the person on the other end often is in terrible distress,” Ms. Saffran said. “How we react is vitally important.”

Ben Light, 39, now The Gathering Place's director of operations but in 2004 a candidate for a development role, fit the mold.

“He has unique qualities not always evident in men,” Ms. Saffran said. “He has become a true asset in so many ways.”

Mr. Light joined the organization after a two-year stint with the Jewish Community Federation; Ms. Saffran had known Mr. Light's parents, and informed him of the opportunity — for which he said he “worked harder to get than any other job before.” His effort included a mock annual fundraising letter, a new Gathering Place brochure and a PowerPoint presentation.

Of course, it was a perfect fit: Mr. Light had worked in the for-profit consulting world — at giant Arthur Andersen and later a tech consulting outfit — after graduating from Washington University in St. Louis. And while he enjoyed that scene, he desired a more intimate work setting.

So he joined the Jewish Community Federation seeking a better mission, inspired in part by his parents' service to others: Mr. Light's father was a pediatrician and his mother a social worker.

When he moved to The Gathering Place, Mr. Light knew much about its mission: Mr. Light's mother, 46 at the time, died in 1992 of cancer when he was 20; four years later, his 58-year-old father also died, leaving Mr. Light to take care of his younger sister. (Now 31, she holds a doctorate from New York University and is a professor there.)

“I didn't get (when my mom died) how young 46 is,” he said. “They still influence my life, and instilled in us good values. They put us in a situation where we were OK after they left.

“Everything I've learned from them has been invaluable. I'd unlearn it all to have them back, but they prepared me well.”

Mr. Light and his wife, Jamie — also a Washington University graduate — live in Beachwood with their 8-year-old daughter, Hannah, of whom he says, “There's nothing better than watching your child have fun.”

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